After less than two full days of deliberations, a California jury
ordered Monsanto to pay just over $2 billion in punitive and
compensatory damages to a married couple who both developed non-Hodgkin
lymphoma they say was caused by their many years of using Roundup
products.

After listening to 17 days of trial testimony, jurors said Monsanto
must pay $1 billion to Alberta Pilliod, who was diagnosed with
non-Hodgkin lymphoma brain cancer in 2015, and another $1 billion to
her husband Alva Pilliod, who was diagnosed in 2011 with non-Hodgkin
lymphoma that spread from his bones to his pelvis and spine. The couple,
who are both in their 70s, started using Roundup in the 1970s and
continued using the herbicide until only a few years ago. The jury also
awarded the couple a total of $55 million in damages for past and future
medical bills and other losses.

In ordering punitive damages, the jury had to find
that Monsanto “engaged in conduct with malice, oppression or fraud
committed by one or more officers, directors or managing agents of
Monsanto” who were acting on behalf of the company.

Pilliod v. Monsanto is the third Roundup cancer case to go to trial.
And it is the third to conclude that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based
herbicides can cause cancer and that Monsanto has long known about – and
covered up – the risks.

In March, a unanimous jury in federal court in San Francisco ordered Monsanto to pay roughly $80 million in damages
for failing to warn plaintiff Edwin Hardeman of the cancer risks of
Roundup herbicide. Last August, jurors in state court in San Francisco
ordered Monsanto to pay $289 million in
damages to school groundskeeper Dewayne “Lee” Johnson, who is dying of
non-Hodgkin lymphoma the jury found was caused by his exposure to
Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicides. The judge in that case lowered the
total verdict to $78 million and the verdict is now on appeal.

Both Johnson and Hardeman attended closing arguments in the Pilliod trial.

The Pilliod verdict is expected to only further erode the market
value of Bayer AG, which purchased Monsanto last summer for $63 billion.
Shares have dropped more than 40 percent since the Aug. 10 Johnson
verdict was handed down.

More than 13,000 plaintiffs have filed similar lawsuits against
Monsanto, alleging the company’s herbicides cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma
and the company has hidden the risks.

Evidence laid out in the three trials included numerous scientific
studies that showed what plaintiffs’ attorneys said was proof Monsanto’s
herbicides can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma. As well, the attorneys
presented jurors with many internal Monsanto communications obtained
through court-ordered discovery that show Monsanto has intentionally
manipulated the public record to hide the cancer risks.

Among the many revelations that have emerged from the trials:

* Monsanto never conducted
epidemiology studies for Roundup and its other formulations made with
the active ingredient glyphosate to evaluate the cancer risks for users.

* Monsanto was aware that the surfactants in Roundup were much more toxic than glyphosate alone.

* Monsanto spent millions of dollars on covert public relations campaigns to finance ghostwritten studies and articles aimed at discrediting independent scientists whose work found dangers with Monsanto’s herbicides.

* Monsanto enjoyed a close relationship with certain officials within
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who have repeatedly backed
Monsanto’s assertions about the safety of its glyphosate products.

* The company internally had worker safety recommendations that
called for wearing a full range of protective gear when applying
glyphosate herbicides, but did not warn the public to do the same.

Pilliod attorney Brent Wisner suggested to jurors in his closing
arguments that they consider punitive damages in the range of $1 billion
to send a message to Monsanto and Bayer about the need to change the
company’s practices.

“The jury saw for themselves internal
company documents demonstrating that, from day one, Monsanto has never
had any interest in finding out whether Roundup is safe,” Wisner said
following the verdict. “Instead of investing in sound science, they
invested millions in attacking science that threatened their business
agenda.”

Michael Miller, who served with Wisner as
co-lead trial counsel said: “Unlike the first two Monsanto trials, where
the judges severely limited the amount of plaintiffs’ evidence, we were
finally allowed to show a jury the mountain of evidence showing
Monsanto’s manipulation of science, the media and regulatory agencies to
forward their own agenda despite Roundup’s severe harm to the animal
kingdom and humankind.”

Bayer issued a statement
after the verdict saying it would appeal: “Bayer is disappointed with
the jury’s decision and will appeal the verdict in this case, which
conflicts directly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s
interim registration review decision released just last month, the
consensus among leading health regulators worldwide that
glyphosate-based products can be used safely and that glyphosate is not
carcinogenic, and the 40 years of extensive scientific research on which
their favorable conclusions are based.

“We
have great sympathy for Mr. and Mrs. Pilliod, but the evidence in this
case was clear that both have long histories of illnesses known to be
substantial risk factors for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), most NHL has
no known cause, and there is not reliable scientific evidence to
conclude that glyphosate-based herbicides were the “but for” cause of
their illnesses as the jury was required to find in this case.”

The damage award breaks down as follows:

Alva Pilliod

Compensatory:

Past economic – $47,296.01

Past non-economic loss – $8 million

Future non-economic loss – $10 million

Punitive damages – $1 billion

Alberta Pilliod

Compensatory:

Past economic – $201,166.76

Past non-economic – $8 million

Future economic – $2,957,710

Future non-economic – $26 million

Punitive damages – $1 billion

TOTAL – $2.055 billion

A federal judge has ordered Bayer to start mediation with plaintiffs’
attorneys and a hearing is set for next week in San Francisco on that
issue. Several more trials are scheduled over the next year in courts
around the United States.